


Sakura Of The Sound

by MuraMuraMonMonMon



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:48:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26699293
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MuraMuraMonMonMon/pseuds/MuraMuraMonMonMon
Summary: Sakura lost her parents when the Nine-Tailed Fox attacked while she was still a baby. Years later she fled the Leaf Village and was taken by Orochimaru to the Sound Village.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 1
Kudos: 13





	Sakura Of The Sound

“Sasuke-kun, what took you so long?” Ino Yamanaka asked as she jumped on the last Uchiha’s back, hugging him from behind. “I haven’t seen you in ages, my heart was aching!”

“So you guys are here too, huh?” Shikamaru Nara, the lazy genius, commented as he approached them, his best friend and teammate Choji Akimichi in tow with a bag of chips in hand.

“Ah, it’s the three stooges!” Naruto Uzumaki pointed out while actually pointing a finger at them, much to Shikamaru’s annoyance.

“Yahoo, there you guys are.” Kiba Inuzuka greeted, his canine partner Akamaru riding on his head and both of his teammates flanking him. “Looks like all 9 rookies made it, huh? I wonder how far we’ll go. Right, Sasuke?”

Sasuke Uchiha smirked. “Is that confidence or bravado, Kiba?”

“We trained a lot, so you bet your ass we’re confident!”

“Sasuke may lose to the likes of you, but me? Hell no!” Naruto announced while pointing at Kiba.

“Shut the hell up, shorty, y’all ain’t even strong enough to beat that pup over there.” Fuki, the spiky-haired redhead from Team 8 whose face was locked in a permanent scowl, said while pointing a thumb at Akamaru. Shino Aburame observed in silence.

“N-Naruto-kun is strong, I-I don’t think he would…” Hinata Hyuuga, the third member of Team 7, tried defending her teammate/love interest, but her quiet whispers were drowned out by the argument.

“Excuse me, friends, but I suggest you talk more quietly.” A tenth person said as he approached the group, a silver-haired genin from the Leaf Village named Kabuto Yakushi.

The more experienced genin explained things about the Chunin Exam, talking about the villages that had sent their own genin and using his cards to share information on people they were curious by.

Hinata, thinking that her teammate was shaking out of fear, approached him in order to offer words of comfort, but…

“MY NAME IS NARUTO UZUMAKI AND I’LL KICK ALL OF YOUR LOSER ASSES!”

Fuki clonked him on the back of the head. “You stupid or somethin’, shorty?!”

“Naruto Uzumaki, eh?” A girl in the restless crowd muttered to herself, her lips curling into a wicked grin under the black cowl that covered her entire head, save for her green eyes and the metal plate with the Sound Village symbol above them stitched to the cowl itself.

“Did you hear what four-eyes over there said about the Sound Village?” The older boy next to her asked, a Sound Village headband wrapped tightly around his forehead.

“A ‘minor village’, huh?” Another Sound Village girl, this one without her head covered and exposing her long black hair, repeated Kabuto’s words before addressing her masked teammate. “Should we go over there and teach them a lesson?”

“You two do that.” The first girl said as she stood up from her seat. “I have my eyes on somebody else.”

“There’s nothing ‘minor’ about the Sound Village,” the boy of the team reached into his weapon holster “and he’s about to find that out the hard way.”

The three Sound ninja dashed across room 301 while Naruto was getting an earful from a member of another team since his own teammate was too soft on him to scold him properly, growing ever closer to the ten Leaf genin. Kabuto was the first to notice, dodging out of the way when the Sound boy tossed two kunai at him and blocking with his arm when the black-haired girl tried to stab him on the side of the head with a senbon.

“Write it down on your pathetic cards, ‘Sound Village team, most likely to become chunin’.” She said.

Too distracted by the sudden aggression from two foreign genin, they didn’t notice until the last second that the third was going straight for Naruto.

“N-Naruto-kun, look ou—” Hinata tried to warn him, but it was too late.

Instead of attacking, however, she cupped both of his cheeks with her pale hands, her thumbs caressing the markings on his face.

“Found you, Naruto-kun~!” The girl’s face grew closer to his, and if it wasn’t for the cowl she was wearing their lips most definitely would have brushed against each other’s.

“Wh-Who are you?” He asked, the proximity of the stranger’s face making him very nervous.

“Naruto-kun, I’m hurt. Are you telling me you don’t remember” she removed her right hand from Naruto’s cheek and used it to unmask herself, revealing her smiling pale face and long, flowing pink hair “your own bride?”

“Bride?!” The other rookies nearly shouted – Hinata came close to fainting.

“H-How come Naruto of all people has a bride?!” Fuki questioned. “And one so pretty to boot?!”

“N-Naruto-kun, is… is this true?” Hinata asked, her heart on the verge of shattering into a thousand pieces.

“I-I-I don’t know what she’s talking about, I don’t have any bride!” He quickly replied, his face burning red. “Th-This girl is crazy, I never met her before!”

The pinkette’s gleeful smile slowly turned into a look of confusion before morphing into a vacant expression so frightening that he felt his blood turn cold as ice.

“You… don’t know… who I am?” She grabbed his entire face with her left hand and squeezed it, her grip growing stronger and stronger. “Naruto-kun… How dare you… How… Dare… You…!”

“H-Hey, cut it off, this hurts!”

“Silence back there, you worthless punks!” Proctor Ibiki Morino shouted as he and his chunin assistants materialized in the classroom. “You Sound people better quiet down, or do you want to fail before the exam even starts?”

“So sorry, mister!” The Sound kunoichi with the pink hair said, the smile returning to her face. She let go of Naruto’s face as she pushed him, causing him to fall on his back. “We’re just on edge; it’s our first time leaving the village, after all.”

After the first exam was explained, all genin were assigned different seats, with Naruto’s being right next to Fuki’s.

“Alright, shorty, confess!” She demanded. “What did you do to that girl?”

“Nothing! I never even met her before.”

“No girl is just goin’ to announce to the world that she is somebody’s bride unless they have history together. And you saw – or rather, _felt_ – how she reacted when you said you didn’t know ‘er, I thought she was going to squeeze your brain outta yer ears. Not that there’s much brain in yer noggin to begin with, but still…”

“She’s crazy! Maybe she thought I was the handsomest guy in the room and decided right then and there that she was going to marry me?”

“First o’ all, no. Second o’ all, what kind of person would even do somethin’ like that?”

“Ino?”

“…Aye, fair ‘nuff.”

“But come to think of it, there’s definitely something about her that feels… familiar, I guess.”

* * *

Hinata was tired. She wanted to fall asleep, but she couldn’t. They had been attacked day prior by a powerful shinobi disguised as a genin from the Grass Village who identified himself as Orochimaru. Sasuke had been bitten, leaving a strange mark on the back of his neck, and Naruto had been hit in the stomach with a strange jutsu that knocked him out cold. It was her duty as the last member of Team 7 still standing to make sure they survived, but keeping her eyes open was getting harder with each passing moment.

“So this is where you’ve been hiding.”

The voice snapped Hinata to attention, immediately activating her Byakugan out of instinct. Three shinobi, the same who attacked Kabuto and Naruto before the first exam started, were standing on the other side of the clearing where she had set up camp under the massive roots of a large tree.

“He looks so cute when he’s asleep, doesn’t he?” The girl with pink hair, once again donning her black cowl, commented. “I too had to stay up all night to make sure he was safe sometimes, so I know how it feels. But your job is done now; wake Naruto-kun up for me, then you can go to sleep.”

“Wh-What do you want with Naruto-kun?”

“That’s between him and me. Now do as you’re told or we’ll have to get violent.”

“I… I…” Hinata stood up and assumed the fighting stance of the Hyuuga clan Gentle Fist style. “I won’t let you hurt him!”

She grinned. “Looks like someone doesn’t want to cooperate. Zaku. Kin.” Her teammates stepped forward. “Get her out of the way.”

The masked genin sat on a nearby rock while Zaku and Kin dashed towards the Hyuuga heiress. Zaku stretched his arms forward but pointed slightly downwards, exposing the holes on the palms of his hands. A wave of compressed air shot out of them, raising a cloud of dust and leaves meant to blind her. The moment he got close, however, he was met with a palm to the chest that sent him flying.

The leader of the team laughed. “Zaku, you idiot, you really think you can blind a Hyuuga?”

Kin threw senbon at her, but Hinata dodged them swiftly while running towards the black-haired girl. By the time she was close enough to attack, Zaku had already recovered and shot another wave of air at them that sent both of them flying.

“Seriously, Kin? You could have dodged that, pay more attention to your surroundings!” She scolded.

Hinata ran towards Zaku, who fired more and more air blasts, but she jumped from side to side, avoiding them. She grabbed him by the right wrist with one hand and assaulted his right arm with the index and middle fingers of her other hand, striking him several times before he kicked her away.

“What, that’s it?” He laughed. “This isn’t a tickle fight, girlie!” He tried shooting more air waves at her, but only his left arm worked as intended. “What the—”

“Don’t you know anything about the Hyuuga clan, Zaku?” The masked leader questioned. “Good luck using your jutsu with one arm.”

“One arm is more than I need!” He stretched his left arm forward, but Hinata didn’t move. He smirked.

Just as he was about to fire at her once again, she jumped to the side, just in time for 5 senbon thrown by Kin to hit him square in the chest. The air wave he fired sent his own teammate flying once again. Kin slammed her back against the trunk of a large tree and was knocked unconscious.

Zaku’s wounds weren’t life-threatening, but they still hurt. With blood staining his clothes, he fell to his knees.

“Don’t think… that you…”

“I’m sorry.” Hinata knocked him out with an open palm strike to the chin.

The last Sound shinobi clapped. “Wonderful, wonderful! The Hyuuga truly is the most powerful clan of the Leaf Village. More than that, I’m glad Naruto-kun has such a powerful friend willing to defend him. Looks like I was worrying over nothing, after all.” She stood up, slowly making her way towards Hinata.

“Wh-Who are you? A-And how do you know Naruto-kun?”

“My name would mean nothing to you, and our history is none of your business. Now step aside before I do to you what you did to my team.” Hinata could see with her Byakugan that her opponent started gathering a lot of chakra on her right arm.

“N-No, I won’t!”

She sighed. “Well, I tried.”

The Sound kunoichi dashed towards Hinata, who mirrored her action. Hinata extended her open palm, ready to strike her assailant in the chest, but she managed to dodge it on the last second, clenching her fist. Before Hinata had the chance to react, she received a blow to the stomach that felt less like a human punch and more like she had been struck with an oversized sledgehammer. The punch was followed by an elbow to the back of the head that, despite not having the raw power of the punch, caused her to land face-first on the dirt.

“That was… disappointing. Oh well!”

“S-Stop.”

She turned around, expecting to see the girl struggling to get up, but she was in fact already on her feet.

“Up already, huh? Not many people are able to after getting punched by me. Good job! Hinata was struck again, this time on the face. “But like I said before, go to sleep.” She tried to walk away, but Hinata grabbed her ankle, one of her white eyes closed while blood oozed from the corner of her mouth. “Ugh, just give up already.”

She lifted her free foot, ready to stomp on Hinata’s wrist, but a kick to the back of her leg forced her to kneel.

“Ow! What the—”

She turned her head to look at her attacker, who turned out to be Sasuke Uchiha. His skin, however, was covered in black, flame-like markings and he looked down at her with his Sharingan active.

“Let go of her, Hinata.”

The Hyuuga followed the Uchiha’s command, removing her hand from the Sound kunoichi’s leg. She quickly jumped to her feet.

“Big mistak—”

Sasuke kicked her in the stomach before she finished talking, sending her flying backwards. He quickly moved to where she was going to land, grabbing her by the back of her Sound Village military uniform and slamming her on the ground. She smiled before dropping him with a sweep kick.

“You’re strong, Sasuke Uchiha. I love a good challenge!” She said, once again standing up while winding up a punch. I can see why Orochimaru-sama had his eyes on you!”

Hinata’s eye widened; Orochimaru was the name of the man who attacked them the day prior.

“It’s a shame I have to kill you, but orders are orders.”

She aimed her fist at his skull and punched, but he disappeared on the last second, causing Sakura’s hand to be buried in the dirt.

“This power is overwhelming.” Sasuke, standing behind her, spoke with a smile on his face. His opponent tried freeing her hand, but she was stuck.

The last thing she saw was a foot in collision route with her face.

* * *

When she regained consciousness, she was tied to the tree along with her still passed out teammates. Sasuke and Naruto were helping Hinata care for her wounds.

“L-Look, she’s awake.” Naruto announced while pointing at her before marching towards her.

“N-Naruto-kun, be careful.” Hinata warned while Sasuke wrapped bandages around her head, covering her wounded left eye.

“What do you want with me, you stalker?” He angrily asked. “First you attack me, and now Hinata-chan. I never met you before in my life, why are you—”

Naruto grabbed the headband attached to her cowl and gave it a good yank, removing the cloth and exposing her face in one swift motion. To his shock, she was crying.

“H-How could you forget me, Naruto-kun? After everything we’ve been through together. After your promise.”

“I-I, uh…”

“It’s a trick.” Sasuke warned. “Those tears are fake, she’s trying to manipulate you.” Naruto’s anger returned.

She smirked. “Good eye, Sasuke Uchiha. The tears were fake, that much is true, but I’m not lying about us, Naruto-kun. It’s a shame you can’t remember me, we had so much fun together.”

He looked deep into her aquamarine eyes, that feeling of nostalgia returning to him once again.

“What is your name?”

“Figure it out yourself.”

It took a moment, but his memories came flooding back.

* * *

_Sakura Haruno, born from Kizashi Haruno and Mebuki Haruno, was seven months old when the Nine-Tails attacked the Leaf Village. Their house had been destroyed, crushed under the massive paws of the tailed beast, killing them both, but their daughter somehow survived. She was found the next morning after her cries were heard. Neighbors of the Haruno identified her by name, but since no one had volunteered to care for her and she had no relatives to take her in, she was taken to the same orphanage as a newborn boy who also lost his parents the night prior. His name was Naruto Uzumaki._

_As they grew, Naruto and Sakura became the best of friends. If one was around, it was a safe bet that the other was not far away. The caretakers, however, weren’t as fond as Naruto as she was, constantly trying to convince her to not associate herself with him, but always failing to provide a reason. The other kids mimicked the behavior of their caretakers, either avoiding Naruto or mistreating him; Sakura was his only friend, she wasn’t going to abandon him, and so she was treated just as badly as he was._

_Sometimes other kids would play pranks on them while they were asleep, ranging from doodling on their faces with markers to physical violence. Sakura spent many nights awake, watching over her friend and attacking kids who got too close to their beds. Since they were not sure if Sakura was actually asleep or just pretending to be, the other kids stopped tormenting them at night, but not during the day._

_Inseparable as they were, it was only a matter of time until Naruto promised to marry her when they grew up. Sakura agreed to the idea._

_Sick of being mistreated not only by the other kids but also by the staff, one night Sakura shook Naruto awake, grabbed him by the wrist and snuck out of the orphanage._

_They walked hand in hand towards the gate of the village with nothing but the clothes on their backs. The two of them were lucky, the shinobi who was supposed to watch that gate had momentarily stepped away to take a leak in the woods, otherwise they would have been caught for sure._

_Sakura wanted to leave the village, find somewhere else to live, but Naruto refused. The parents he never met were from the Leaf Village, he didn’t want to leave it behind. He promised he would never go back to the orphanage, but he also wouldn’t abandon the Leaf. Sakura wasn’t as attached to the place as he was and tried to convince him, but he wouldn’t budge. She was only four years old, but that was still the hardest decision she had ever made in her life. In the end, she chose to leave Naruto behind and abandon the village forever._

_Naruto spent the night outside the Hokage Building. Hiruzen Sarutobi found him the next morning and heard his plea, promising to find him a better place to live. Sakura wandered all night until she reached a small village not far from the Leaf. She was taken in by a group of street urchins who taught her how to survive._

_Being the only girl of the group, more often than not she was used as a distraction while her partners in crime pickpocketed wealthy-looking travelers, but she was a talented pickpocket herself who had yet to be caught. The one time she was caught, however, was by a man with pale-white skin and long black hair._

_At first she thought he was going to beat her, like many had done to her friends who got caught before, but he just smiled and told her she had potential. Introducing himself as Orochimaru, he took her in and trained her. She grew up in the same hideout as three other children around her age: Zaku Abumi, Kin Tsuchi and Dosu Kinuta; they became good friends, but Sakura never forgot the blonde boy she had left back in the Leaf Village._

_Orochimaru noticed that Sakura had a talent for chakra control, surpassing many people twice her age, so he taught her a technique that required just that._

_“It’s a technique I learned by watching an old friend,” he told her. “It’s not as powerful as hers and it takes some time to fully charge, but it will serve you well.”_

_At the age of 7, Sakura could punch men three times her size through solid brick walls with her chakra enhanced strength._

_Not long after turning 9, Dosu disappeared. She noticed he had started acting strange, on edge when Orochimaru was nearby and wary when he wasn’t. The older boy pulled her aside, saying he wanted to meet after bedtime to tell her the truth about Orochimaru, but he never showed up. No one knew what happened to him, but she did notice that the eyes of the flesh dummy wrapped in bandages she fought the next day looked familiar._

_When Sakura was 12, she, Zaku and Kin passed their graduation exam: they were left in a room with dozens of warriors who were promised their freedom if they managed to kill the three of them, and their goal was to survive._

_In little over an hour, the three recently-graduate genin of the Sound Village were the only ones left standing. Orochimaru congratulated them and gave them their first mission: go to the Leaf Village, participate in the Chunin Exam and kill Sasuke Uchiha._

* * *

“S-Sakura-chan…” Naruto said, his mouth hanging open before turning into a grin. “Sakura-chan, it’s really you! It’s been so long! What happened to you? Where have you been?”

“Finally, you remembered me! Can you let me go now?”

“Sure, I’ll just—”

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the wrist and pulled him away from the pink-haired Sound kunoichi.

“Hey!”

“What are you going to do after you’re free?” Sasuke questioned, ignoring Naruto’s protest.

“Kill you, of course.” She answered truthfully, the smile never leaving her face. “It’s my mission, after all.”

“B-But that makes n-no sense.” Hinata interjected. “Th-This Orochimaru guy, he’s the one who ordered you to a-attack Sasuke-kun, b-but he also attacked us personally a-and gave Sasuke-kun that m-mark.”

“What mark?” The blonde asked, but was ignored.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. “He did? Huh.” She would have shrugged, had her arms not been bound. “Whatever, I don’t question Orochimaru-sama’s orders. It doesn’t matter what he did to Sasuke Uchiha, if he says he wants him dead then that’s what I’ll do.”

“B-But Sakura-chan, why are you doing this?” Naruto asked. “Orochimaru is definitely bad news, why are you taking orders from a guy like him?”

“I wouldn’t have survived much longer on the streets if he hadn’t taken me in. He is like a father to me, I owe him everything.”

“Well, your ‘father’ is rotten to the core. You can come back home to the Leaf Village! I have a place of my own now, you can crash there for as long as—”

“No.”

“No?”

“This place stopped being my home the moment I walked out that gate all those years ago. I have a better idea, why don’t you leave this place behind and come with me back to the Sound Village? Orochimaru-sama will take you in, then we can be together again and you can fulfill your promise.”

“What promise?”

“Come now, Naruto-kun, you said you wanted to marry me when we grew up. I said yes, remember?”

Naruto’s cheeks turned red. Hinata’s heart sunk.

“S-S-Sorry, Sakura-chan. That sounds like a f-fine idea and all, but the Leaf Village is my home. All the people I care about live here. E-Except you, that is.”

“My place is by Orochimaru-sama’s side. If you’re not gonna join us, that means you’re against us. I’m sorry, Naruto-kun, but from this point on, you’re my enemy.”

“Sakura-chan, you—”

“That’s enough, Naruto.” Sasuke said as he pulled him by the shoulder. “We have to get going, the Chunin Exam is still going and we need to find another scroll.” He reached into his hip pouch and retrieved an Earth Scroll that once belonged to Sakura’s team, showing it to her. “We’re keeping this, by the way.”

Sasuke and Hinata departed. With a hurt look on his face, Naruto spared Sakura one last glance before following his teammates.

“What a shame…” Sakura said to herself before using her super strength to snap the wires holding her and her teammates in place. She laid them down in the makeshift beds Hinata made for her own teammates and proceeded to tend to their wounds.

* * *

Team 7 and the Sound trio met once again after the second exam was completed, but Sakura no longer treated Naruto with the same warmth from before the first exam started. In fact, she acted like he wasn’t even there, walking past him without even acknowledging his presence and completely ignoring him when he spoke to her.

Kabuto Yakushi, one of the 21 genin who passed the exam, walked away, leaving the remaining 20 to fight for a spot on the third exam.

Sasuke Uchiha fought Yoroi Akado. Sasuke won.

Zaku Abumi fought Shino Aburame. Shino won.

Misumi Tsurugi fought Kankuro. Kankuro won.

Fuki fought Ino Yamanaka. Ino won.

Tenten fought Temari. Temari won.

Shikamaru Nara fought Kin Tsuchi. Shikamaru won.

Naruto Uzumaki fought Kiba Inuzuka. Naruto won.

Hinata Hyuuga fought Neji Hyuuga. Neji won.

Gaara fought Rock Lee. Gaara won.

Finally, it was Sakura’s turn. She had to fight Choji Akimichi. Choji made the first move, using his Expansion Jutsu followed by his Human Boulder technique, turning himself into a rolling wrecking ball. He rolled towards her, making the entire arena shake, but Sakura didn’t budge, choosing to stand in place with her arm ready to deliver a punch. When Choji was within striking distance, she sent him flying with a single punch, opening a large crater on the wall. The Akimichi turned back to normal, knocked out cold in one move.

“ _That was for Kin._ ” She whispered to no one in particular before looking up at Shino. “ _You’re next, bug boy._ ”

The remaining participants – with the exception of Sasuke, who had been taken after his match by Kakashi Hatake to deal with the seal forced onto him by Orochimaru – had to pick a piece of paper with a number that would decide who they would be fighting one month later in the third exam.

Naruto would be fighting Neji

Gaara would be fighting Sasuke

Kankuro would be fighting Shino

Sakura would be fighting Ino

And Temari would be fighting Shikamaru.

Sakura locked eyes with the blonde, who wasn’t very thrilled about the idea of fighting the girl who defeated the physically strongest member of her team in one punch. Her smile creeped Ino out.

Sakura went to the hospital later that day to visit her teammates, but their sensei, who happened to be Orochimaru himself in disguise, stopped her.

“It’s unfortunate that they weren’t able to proceed to the third exam, but they will still make themselves useful.” He explained. “I’ll be taking them back home to better prepare them.”

“Prepare them for what, sensei?”

“We’ll talk later, Sakura-kun. Outside the village.”

That night, in the woods outside the same gate Sakura traversed to leave the village years prior, Sakura met with Orochimaru and Kabuto Yakushi, who revealed himself as Orochimaru’s spy, where they let her in on the big plan: in a month’s time, the Sound Village would join forces with the Sand Village and together they would invade and destroy the Leaf Village.

* * *

During the month leading to the third and final stage of the Chunin Exam, Sakura stayed with the Sand siblings, Temari, Kankuro and Gaara, since Orochimaru, disguised as the Fourth Kazekage, had to return to the Sand Village to plan the invasion along with high-ranking members of the village, thus making him unable to pose as her sensei. All four of them were well-aware of the incoming attack, so they made plans of their own for when the time came.

Sakura’s smile made Kankuro uncomfortable, so he avoided her whenever possible. Temari didn’t show much interest in the younger girl, so they didn’t interact much either. Sakura tried bonding with Gaara of all people, even going as far as nicknaming him “Gaara-chan” due to his height. He ignored her, but something about him reminded her of Naruto, so she kept trying and failing to connect with him. 

Before they knew it, one month had passed.

On the day of the tournament, people from all over gathered in the arena to watch the final exam, overseen by the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi and Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage, who was in reality Orochimaru in disguise, a fact known only to Kabuto and the Sound shinobi gathered outside the Leaf Village, waiting for the signal to start the invasion.

The participants gathered in the arena, with the exception of Sasuke Uchiha, much to Sakura’s annoyance; she never questioned Orochimaru about the fact that he had gone after Sasuke despite ordering her team to kill him, and Orochimaru never put an end to the mission, so her goal technically remained unchanged.

The first fight was Naruto versus Neji. It was a tough fight, but Naruto eventually emerged victorious. Gaara was supposed to fight Sasuke next, but the Uchiha was nowhere to be found. They thought about disqualifying him, but the Kazekage convinced the Hokage to simply postpone the match. Kankuro forfeited his fight, so Shino won by default.

Sakura jumped down on the area when her name was called, concentrating chakra on her legs as she fell, cushioning her fall but leaving a small crater where she landed. The heiress of the Yamanaka clan concentrated chakra on her feet, using the wall-running technique to reach the arena. The two of them approached the center of the arena, where proctor Genma Shiranui waited.

“Your hair is so beautiful.” Sakura complimented. “It flows in the wind like it’s made of silk.”

Ino smiled. “Thank you, I—”

“It pisses me off, really. To think, you Leaf bitches have it so easy that you can spare time to worry about futile things like your looks.” Sakura pointed at the girl. “Your limbs are like twigs and you look like you’ve been skipping out on meals that you definitely can afford. I’m going to win this fight and it won’t even be a struggle, so here’s a piece of advice: forfeit now, because if you don’t I will rip that pretty hair of yours from your head with my bare hands.”

Ino was unfazed by the threats and insults. “Roses have thorns, darling, so don’t be fooled by my looks. Now let’s dance!”

“Begin!” Genma announced.

Sakura dashed forward in an attempt to close their distance, but Ino jumped backwards to maintain the gap between them, reaching into her holster and retrieving a pair of kunai with explosive tags tied to their handles. Sakura jumped out of the way when Ino threw them, narrowly avoiding the resulting explosions. Ino wasn’t done, throwing shuriken at Sakura while circling her opponent. The Sound kunoichi grabbed her own kunai and used it to deflect the shuriken, unaware of Ino’s true plan.

When the Yamanaka stopped running, Sakura finally made her move, running towards her with her fist coated in chakra. Smirking, Ino closed her fist around a thin wire tied to her belt-headband and gave it a yank. Suddenly a web of wires forming a spiral shape around Sakura was revealed with dozens of explosive tags attached to it. The web wrapped itself around the pinkette, restraining her completely. Sakura tried to free herself but…

“Ah ah ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Ino warned, wagging her finger. “There are exactly 38 explosive tags touching your body right now. If you rip even one of them, it will trigger a chain reaction that will turn you into dust in the blink of an eye. Not bad for a ‘Leaf bitch’, huh?”

Sakura just smirked under her mask. “Very bad, actually. Why don’t you take a closer look at that’s _really_ happening?”

Ino blinked. The moment her eyes opened, she could see that their situations were actually reversed: Sakura stood in front of her, completely free, while Ino was the one caught in the explosive trap.

“H-How?!”

“Genjutsu. You were caught in it the moment the match started.”

“Not bad, Sakura of the Sound. The thing is, these tags are actually fake. I can just—”

But before Ino was done talking, Sakura sent her flying with a chakra enhanced punch in the gut. Her body slammed against the wall, opening a crater upon impact. Ino fell to the ground, barely clinging to consciousness when her opponent wrapped her blonde ponytail around her hand, giving it a good yank that caused Ino even more pain.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, little pig.” Sakura said before planting her foot on Ino’s spine and pulling her hair. Ino screamed in agony.

“That’s enough!” Genma said, intervening before the Sound girl did any real damage to the Leaf girl’s scalp. “This fight is over. The winner is Sakura.”

She let go of Ino’s hair and removed her foot from her back. “Lucky.”

Medics rushed to Ino’s aid while Sakura climbed the stairs that would take her back to the grandstands.

Shikamaru fought Temari next. The boy managed to outsmart the Sand girl, but in the end he forfeited.

Sasuke showed up in the nick of time, ready to fight Gaara, but it was interrupted when feathers started falling from the sky, putting most of the spectators to sleep.

That was the signal.

The invasion had begun.

Orochimaru took the Third Hokage hostage while giant snakes invaded and ravaged the village, accompanied by Sand and Sound shinobi.

Gaara was meant to play a much bigger role in the invasion, but he was made unstable by his fight against Sasuke, so their sensei aborted the mission and ordered Kankuro and Temari to take him and retreat. Genma ordered Sasuke to give chase. Kakashi ordered Naruto, Shikamaru and Fuki to go after Sasuke, guided by his summoned dog Pakkun. Sakura, who hadn’t been given any specific objectives by either Orochimaru or Kabuto, decided to follow her original mission to kill Sasuke.

Shino had caught wind of their plans and followed the Sand siblings, forcing Kankuro to stay behind while Sasuke chased after Gaara and Temari. Shikamaru was also separated from the group in order to stall a group of Sound ninja. After Gaara partially transformed, there was nothing Temari could do other than watch while her younger brother continued his fight with Sasuke.

The last Uchiha was about to be overwhelmed when Naruto, Pakkun and Fuki arrived. Fuki tried defending them with a wall created with her earth style jutsu, but Gaara just broke through her barrier and pressed her against a tree. His claw separated from the rest of his body, leaving her trapped in place.

“I can’t believe you started the fun part without me, Gaara-chan!” Sakura of the Sound said as she joined them on the battlefield.

“What are you doing here, Sakura-chan?” Naruto asked.

“I have a mission to complete.” She explained as she approached the wounded raven-haired boy being overwhelmed by his cursed seal. “I waited one whole month for you to come out of hiding, Sasuke-kun, but now there’s nowhere to hide.” She raised her fist, coated in chakra. “This will only take a second, Naruto-kun. In the meantime, play nice with Gaara-chan.”

“Sakura-chan, don’t!”

“No. No! Sasuke Uchiha is my prey! HE IS MINE!” Gaara shouted as he extended his sand arm, grasping Sakura with so much force that blood spilled from her mouth. She screamed in pain before Gaara silenced her by slamming Sakura through a large branch before launching her towards the ground. She had already blacked out by the time Temari saved her from a fall that would have definitely been fatal.

* * *

When Sakura came to, she was in a makeshift hospital room inside a prison cell located somewhere underground, wearing cuffs, shackles and a collar that prevented the flow of chakra, commonly used on prisoners – Temari may have saved her life, but she still left her behind while she and her brothers fled the Land of Fire. She was wearing a hospital gown instead of her Sound Village military uniform, her cowl nowhere to be found.

“Finally.” She heard someone with a gruff voice speak. Sitting on a stool by her bed was a Leaf Village man she was not familiar with. “Get up, little girl. You and I need to have a little conversation.”

Her mind still a little hazy, Sakura did as ordered. The man forced her to walk in front of him as they exited the cell and walked down the dark corridor, passing by an open door labeled “morgue”. Normally she would have just walked past it without turning her head, but her judgment was clouded by her hazy mind, so she turned her head to the side, and what she saw felt like a knife being twisted in her gut:

The two bodies closest to the door were the shriveled corpses of Kin Tsuchi and Zaku Abumi.

The sight snapped Sakura’s mind out of its haze. She took a step towards the door, but the man behind her prevented it by grabbing a handful of her hair.

“No! No! Zaku! Kin! Please, no, not you!” She yelled, ignoring the pain of her hair being pulled, trying to free herself with brute force to no avail. “What did you do to them?!”

The man pulled her harder and tossed her aside, causing her to slam her face on the concrete wall, opening a gash on her eyebrow that leaked blood down her face.

“You’re not the one asking questions here. Remember that.”

Sakura was taken to a different room, an empty round cell with a single metal door and a chair on the center.

“Where’s Orochimaru hiding?” He demanded to know, but she didn’t reply. “I asked you a question.”

“Who killed Kin and Zaku?”

“I told you you’re not the one asking questions.”

“Tell me who did it and I’ll cooperate.”

They glared at each other for a moment.

“Orochimaru did it.”

Sakura gritted her teeth. “Liar!”

“Orochimaru used a jutsu to bring the First and Second Hokage back to life. They turned to ash when they were dealt with and all that was left behind were those corpses.”

“We are Orochimaru-sama’s best of the best!”

“Funny. Where I’m from, the ‘best of the best’ aren’t discarded like trash. Now answer me: where is Orochimaru?”

“You’re lying to me, I don’t owe you shit! Orochimaru-sama is coming to save me, and he’s going to—”

The punch in the face nearly sent her flying from the chair.

“The interrogation is over. From here on, it’s torture.”

* * *

The unknown man was true to his word, and for the next several days Sakura was tortured for information she refused to give, and the man did not go easy on her just because she was still technically a child. She was still Orochimaru’s subordinate. She was still the enemy.

Sakura survived solely because every night she would be taken back to her cell, fed and only healed enough so that she wouldn’t die in her sleep, but the pain from their daily torture sessions remained, making restful sleep impossible.

“Ya… Yamanaka…” She said between gasps for air.

“What about them?”

“Why… haven’t you… probed my mind…?”

“With the Yamanaka? What makes you think we didn’t?”

“Then… why…?”

“Because you Sound ninja are all the same. The damned seal is on the way.”

“What… seal?”

Something clicked in his mind. He grinned. “You’re telling me you don’t know? Every shinobi from the Sound Village we captured has a seal in their minds. We breached many, but the result was always the same: as soon as the seal was no more, they were rendered brain-dead. You’re no different, so we have to extract info the old-fashioned way.”

“But… But only… prisoners and… lowly grunts… receive the seal… I am…”

His laughter echoed throughout the empty interrogation room. “The best of the best, right? Well, not quite, it would seem. Your precious ‘Orochimaru-sama’ placed on you the same seal he gave people he felt couldn’t be trusted, and you didn’t even know about it.”

“There… must… mistake… I don’t…”

That night, Sakura thought about the Chunin Exam. Orochimaru ordered Sakura’s team to hunt down Sasuke and kill him, but in the end he went after him personally, gave him power and didn’t inform her about any change of plans. What if there was no change of plans? Sakura was skilled in taijutsu, Zaku in ninjutsu and Kin in genjutsu, was his plan to sic them on Sasuke to see how he fared against those different styles of combat? Were they sent to their deaths from the start? Were they pawns in Orochimaru’s grand scheme, much like all the people she killed over the years under his tutelage?

Did Orochimaru really kill Zaku and Kin after all?

Were they sacrificed in order to further his goals? Did he kill Dosu as well all those years ago, then turned him into a reanimated corpse that she destroyed without a second thought?

“I want to make a deal” was the first thing she said to her torturer when he opened her cell the next morning.

“You’re in no position to be making deals.” He retorted.

“I… I need to know. Orochimaru-sama is like a father to me, he took me in, he raised me, he taught me, he trained me… I need to know the truth. If you let me go, I promise I’ll lead whoever you want me to straight to his hideout, I just want to talk to him.”

The large man laughed in amusement.

“No deal.” Grabbing her by the hair that had already been severely shortened after numerous torture sessions, he took her back to the interrogation room.

More days passed, Sakura insisting on the deal, but her interrogator never budged. Back in the Sound Village she had been trained to endure torture, but she was beginning to lose hope and gave serious thought to the idea of telling them everything just to put an end to her suffering, but one morning she received an unexpected visit that changed things.

“She’s the one?” Shikamaru asked, eyeing the girl from outside the prison cell.

“Lucky you, little girl, looks like the Hokage is willing to make that deal after all.” The torturer explained as he unlocked the cell.

“What happened to her?” The recently-promoted chunin asked upon noticing her numerous scars and bruises; he didn’t like Sakura at all, she was the one who hurt his beloved teammates Choji and Ino during the Chunin Exam, but in that sorry state she looked completely different from the unhinged and dangerously strong person he was familiar with.

“Standard procedure.” The man replied before turning his attention back to Sakura. “You’re going to lead the boy here and his subordinates to Orochimaru.”

He unlocked her chakra dampening handcuffs and quickly replaced them with longer cuffs that covered her scarred hands and forearms entirely – they were covered in seals that also served to block her chakra flow. After that he removed her shackles and collar before pulling her up from the floor where she was kneeling and forcing her to stand. Once again forced to walk in front, she exited the cell and was taken back to the surface. The sunlight hurt her eyes.

“She may be leashed, but don’t take your eyes off her.” The man instructed Shikamaru before leaving the two.

“What are my orders?” She asked, all her snark and confidence drained from her, replaced with cold indifference and a sense of defeat.

 _“So this is what happens to the people taken by the T &I, huh?”_ He thought to himself. _“Damn, the people working for Ino’s dad sure are a scary bunch.”_

“First I’m going to gather up some people,” he explained “after that you’re taking us straight to Orochimaru’s hideout.”

She nodded. “Who’s first?”

“Someone personally recommended by the Fifth Hokage.”

“…Fifth?”

* * *

“S-Sakura-chan, you’re alive!” Naruto, still in his pajamas, couldn’t believe his eyes. “Gaara, he… I… I thought you were dead.”

“Leave the chit-chat for later, we can’t waste any time right now.” Shikamaru interrupted. “Go get dressed, we’re leaving on a mission.”

“Mission? What mission?”

“Sasuke left the village last night, we’re going after him.”

“Sasuke did what?!”

For the next half hour, the three of them assembled a team with as many strong, available and reliable people they could contact. When they hit the time limit, Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba and Neji gathered near the village gate.

“So sorry, y’all.” Fuki, who joined them by the gate to see them off, apologized. The bandages on her face and arms were a dead giveaway that she was in no condition to join them in the rescue mission. “I tried to stop ‘im last night, but I guess I just ain’t strong enough to go toe-to-toe with an Uchiha just yet.”

“Don’t sweat it, Fuki.” Kiba said. “If it wasn’t for you then no one would have realized he was gone. You did good!”

“Good luck, y’all. Do yer best, but don’t get yerselves killed over a piece o’ work like ‘im, ‘kay?”

Fuki waved them goodbye when they left with Kiba and Akamaru taking point. Sakura was right behind him, with Shikamaru close by to keep an eye on her. Behind him were Naruto and Choji with Neji watching their backs.

It didn’t take long for them to come across the Sound Four, a group of Orochimaru’s subordinates who were carrying a barrel where Sasuke was sealed. Sakura noticed that one of them had the Sound Village headband and immediately snapped out of her stupor.

“H-Hey! You’re from the Sound Village too, right?”

“’Too’?” The fat one, Jirobo, questioned.

“So am I! Orochimaru-sama ordered me to kill Sasuke in the Chunin Exams.”

“Yes, I remember her.” Tayuya, the girl of the group, commented. “Orochimaru-sama mentioned you.”

“Yes, did he—”

Kidomaru, the man with six arms, surprised her by throwing a brownish-yellow weapon covered in spikes at her. Naruto saved her life by tackling her to the ground.

“He said you long since outlived your usefulness.” He explained.

“He also said we should get rid of you in case you became an asset to the Leaf Village.” Sakon, the apparent leader of the group, explained. “And would you look at that, he was right about you, you little turncoat.”

“N-No, I… I’m not…”

While they were distracted by Sakura, Shikamaru attempted to take them down with a surprise attack, but it failed and all six of them ended up trapped in Jirobo’s earth dome. Sakura didn’t say a word after that, simply following Shikamaru’s orders without question. After they managed to escape, Choji stayed behind to fight the Sound ninja while the rest of the team chased after the rest.

They attempted to trick them by transforming into Jirobo, but they saw through it and the Leaf shinobi were trapped on Kidomaru’s web. Neji managed to free themselves and the others, also choosing to stay behind so the others could keep going.

Kiba and Akamaru were separated from the group, falling into a chasm along with Sakon of the Sound Four. Only Tayuya was left, but a fifth Sound ninja appeared, taking the barrel containing Sasuke with him and leaving. Naruto and Sakura followed while Shikamaru stayed to deal with her.

Naruto and Sakura chased after the fifth member, Kimimaro, into a clearing, where the boy tried to overwhelm him with countless shadow clones, but he repelled them all. Sakura stayed out of the conflict, much like she did when the Leaf genin engaged the other four.

At some point Sasuke emerged from the barrel and ran. Kimimaro tried to stop Naruto from going after him, but Rock Lee made an appearance and intervened. Using his bone blade, Kimimaro destroyed the cuffs binding Sakura.

“Go.” He ordered. “Regardless of circumstances, you’re still Orochimaru-sama’s subordinate. Your life belongs to him, it’s your duty as a Sound shinobi to make sure his ambitions come true.”

Kimimaro’s words reached Sakura. The people of the Leaf Village turned their back on her when she was young, and so she turned her back on them as well. Orochimaru was the only person who offered her a hand; he had saved her life all those years ago, thus making it his to use as he saw fit.

So what if he had ordered her death? If anything, she deserved it for aiding the enemy. This was her chance for redemption, to earn back the favor of her father-figure.

She chased after Naruto, gathering chakra on her legs for the first time in what felt like years, smiling for the first time in ages as well.

* * *

Valley of the End, the site of the final battle between Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju. The fight had been of legendary proportions, to the point where the combat alone shaped the entire valley. Massive statues of the founders of the Leaf Village had been erected there years after, and at that very moment that same area had become the battleground of yet another pair of once-friends. Waiting for an opportunity, Sakura watched from the top of Hashirama’s statue as Naruto’s Rasengan clashed with Sasuke’s Chidori. The impact caused both of the genin to be catapulted in opposite directions and sending ripples across the entire river. Sasuke quickly stood back up, using his chakra to walk on water. Naruto, on the other hand, was simply floating with the front of his body facing the sky.

Her childhood friend stood back up when the same pattern from when Sakura met with Team 7 in the Forest of Death started spreading across his opponent’s body. Naruto dodged with a jump as Sasuke fired a barrage of fire balls at him, but Sasuke had already expected that, jumping after him and kicking him back down.

That was her window of opportunity. He was so focused on the fight that he wouldn’t see her coming. Running down the side of the statue, she launched herself towards her target. Naruto, still crouching on top of the water, turned his head just in time to see Sasuke coming towards him ready to throw a punch.

That is, until Sakura kicked his raven-haired assailant on the side of the head, sending him flying to the side.

Sakura was gritting her teeth and breathing heavily in anger, but in her mind she was freaking out. Why did she do that? Orochimaru wanted Sasuke, her goal was to make sure he arrived back in the hideout safe and sound – or at least alive. If anything, she should be siding with Sasuke to take down Naruto, not the other way around.

“Don’t…” She clenched her fist. “DON’T YOU DARE LAY ANOTHER FINGER ON MY NARUTO-KUN, YOU BASTARD!”

Once again, she had no idea why she said that. Despite her brain screaming at her to take it all back, switch sides and attack Naruto, something inside her wasn’t cooperating. In fact, it was taking her over.

 _“Too late to turn back now.”_ She thought to herself.

Gathering chakra on her fist, she ran towards Sasuke as he got back up. She threw a punch, but he dodged with a crouch before hitting her on the chin with an uppercut.

“This isn’t your fight,” he told her “do not interrupt.”

Sakura didn’t care about their fight. In the end, despite taking completely different paths in life, she still cared deeply for her first friend. Rubbing her bruised chin, she went on the offensive again.

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t land a single hit. Sasuke was much too fast for her, swiftly dodging every punch and kick, chakra-enhanced or not, as if she was moving in slow motion. In the end he got tired of just dodging, so hit her in the stomach with his knee, causing her to double over.

Grabbing her by the collar of her prison outfit, Sasuke raised her until her feet were no longer touching the water. Chakra gathered on his free hand before turning into electricity.

“Disappear.”

With his Chidori fully charged, Sasuke attacked. He aimed for a her chest, but was body-slammed on the last second by Naruto, causing his to miss the direct hit against her body. Unfortunately for Sakura, it wasn’t a complete miss and a large chunk of the right side of her abdomen was obliterated.

The pink-haired traitor fell into the water, leaving a trail of blood as she sunk to the bottom while the flow of the river carried her away. Sad that she wasn’t strong enough to protect her dear friend, Sakura accepted her fate. She saw something red in the water, something other than her blood that vaguely resembled an oversized hand with sharp claws and coming towards her faster than the river could carry her. She closed her eyes before identifying what it was, losing her consciousness for what she expected to be the last time.

* * *

That wasn’t the end for Sakura, however. She was still a valuable asset for the Leaf Village, what with all the knowledge she had about Orochimaru. After Naruto fished her out of the water with the Nine-Tails’ power and set her on the shore before fighting Sasuke with his full power, she was rescued alongside him after he lost the battle.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was in a hospital room much brighter and cleaner than the last one she found herself in after being critically injured in a fight that wasn’t hers. The room actually had windows that time around, and standing over her was a buxom blonde she had never met before but still looked somewhat familiar.

“Why…?” She asked, her voice still weak. She tried moving her hand up to rub her pounding head, but her wrists were locked to the sides of the bed with chakra-dampening handcuffs.

“You still have yet to fulfill your part of the bargain.” The woman replied. “As soon as you’re able stand, you’re taking a more experienced team straight to Orochimaru’s hideout.”

“Who are you…?”

“Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage of the Leaf Village.”

“Fifth…? What happened to the Third…?”

Tsunade inspected the girl’s face, looking for a hint of sarcasm or malice behind that question, but all she had was genuine curiosity.

“You really don’t know, do you?” Sakura shook her head weakly. “He was killed. By your master.”

“Oh…” So he failed to destroy the Leaf, but his assassination was a success.

“Now it’s your turn to ask you a question. Why did you help Naruto?” Sakura blinked in surprise. How did she know that? Did Naruto tell her? “It was in Orochimaru’s best interest for Sasuke Uchiha to reach him, yet you interfered. Risked you life, even, judging by the gaping wound I healed.”

“I… I don’t know, I just… My body… moved on its own…”

“Naruto told me the two of you grew up together in an orphanage before you fled the village. What made you leave?”

“Because it sucked.”

Tsunade didn’t reply, they just looked at each other in silence for a moment.

“You are a traitor, a deserter, a terrorist and subordinate to one of the village’s top wanted criminals. Nothing you ever say or do will ever be enough to pay for your crimes.” She turned around to leave, but stopped with her hand on the door handle. “But you defied your master to help Naruto, even though you had no reason to do it, and for that you have my thanks.”

The Hokage left the room before Sakura said anything else.

Sakura wasn’t fully healed by the time she was discharged, but she could stand, run and jump just fine. Once again donning the sealing cuffs that covered her hands and forearms, she led a small team of jonin, including Kakashi of the Sharingan, straight to the hideout where she was raised alongside her long-dead teammates.

Unfortunately for her, the place was empty. One of the jonin grabbed her by the hair and pressed a kunai to her neck, yelling about how she had led them into a dead end. Luckily Kakashi found evidence that the place had only recently been abandoned along with some documents, suggesting that they had left in enough of a hurry that they couldn’t be bothered to take everything, erase the evidence or even destroy the hideout. Thanks to his observations, Sakura was spared.

Taking everything they could carry and using sealing scrolls to take what they couldn’t, they returned to the Leaf. The mission was a failure, but with luck the info contained in the documents they found would be enough of a consolation prize.

Instead of being taken back to the torture chamber, Sakura was simply thrown in jail, once again wearing the smaller handcuffs, shackles and collar. She fully expected to spend the rest of her life rotting away in that cramped cell with only the scratches on the walls keeping her company, but her salvation came in just a couple of days.

“Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan!” Naruto called, pressing his face against the bars of her jail cell as if trying to squeeze through.

“Na… Naruto-kun? What are you…?”

“I have good news! Ero-Sennin is getting you out of there!”

“Ero… Sennin?”

“I told you to stop calling me that in front of people. The name is Jiraiya.” A giant of a man with a mane of white hair approached the cell. “Yes, pinkie, you’re getting out. The brat wouldn’t stop bothering me about you and I had to cash in every favor Tsunade owed me on top of the hour I spent in her office trying to convincing her.”

“But… why?”

“Officially? Seeing how you already served your purpose, the village has nothing to gain by keeping you here, so instead of leaving you to rot I’m going to use you as a living punching bag to train the brat over here. You’re not a Leaf ninja, so there is no reason to hold back.” Jiraiya placed one hand on top of Naruto’s head. He then sighed and scratched the back of his own head with his other hand. “But that’s just what’s on the records. Truth is, the brat over here refused leave the village as long as you were still in the slammer.”

“Leave? Where are you going?”

“Ero-Sennin’s going to train me!” Naruto explained. “That way I’ll be strong enough to beat Orochimaru, the Akatsuki and bring Sasuke back!”

“I… see.”

“You’re coming with us, by the way.” Jiraiya said as he unlocked the cell door. “Not that you have an option, you’re still a criminal, so it’s not like you can seek asylum here.”

Jiraiya opened the cell door. Sakura cautiously placed one foot outside, just in case it was all a trick. Since the guard at the end of the corridor didn’t react, she stepped out of her cell completely. Naruto took his backpack on the way out and the three of them exited the T&I building, going straight to the village main gate.

“Safe travels, shorty.” Fuki, accompanied by Shino, Kiba, Akamaru and Kurenai, said as they waved him goodbye. “Try an’ grow a couple inches taller so y’all won’t be ‘shorty’ no more, ‘kay?”

Naruto waved back as his group exited the Leaf Village. Once they were far enough from the entrance, they stopped.

“Sakura-chan, Sakura-chan, look!” Naruto placed his backpack on the ground and unzipped it. After sticking his hand in it, he pulled out a red qipao dress, dark green shorts and blue shinobi sandals. “I thought it was going to be weird for you to travel around wearing a prison uniform all the time, so I bought you this!”

“You mean _I_ bought it.” Jiraiya corrected him. “We used _my_ money.”

“It was the least you could do after emptying my poor Gama-chan! Again!”

“But… But why?” Sakura finally asked. “Why are you doing all this for me, Naruto-kun? I abandoned you, abandoned the village, nearly killed some of your other friends and helped the man that took away your best friend. Why are you still being nice to me?”

Naruto smiled at her. “Because you’re my friend too, Sakura-chan.”

Her heart skipped a beat. “I… I am?”

“Sure, you made some bad decisions along the way, but who can blame you? You said it yourself, Orochimaru saved your life and was like a father to you. You had no one else. Who knows what would have happened to me if I didn’t have people like the old man Hokage, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Hinata-chan, Kiba, Choji, Shikamaru and the others? But now you have me, and I’ll make sure you’ll never need to depend on people like Orochimaru ever again!”

Sakura hugged Naruto – a very awkward hug, given that she still wore the handcuffs – and cried on his shoulder. Naruto returned the hug, patting her on the back.

“Th-Thank you so much, N-Naruto-kun.”

“Oi, Ero-Sennin! When are you going to take off those cuffs so she can put on her new clothes?”

“As soon as she let go of you.”

Quickly wiping her tears on the sleeves of her prison uniform, she waited patiently as Jiraiya performed hand seals before touching her cuffs, shackles and collar. The patterns drawn on the metal started glowing before her restraints split in half, falling to the ground and allowing her chakra to flow once again. Sakura stretched with a smile on her face.

“You can change behind the trees, I promise I won’t—” Naruto spoke, but Sakura didn’t let him finish.

“No need!” Without wasting another moment, Sakura stripped down to her underwear in front of him. Naruto’s face immediately turned red and he covered his face with both arms.

“S-S-Sakura-chan!”

“What’s the problem, Naruto-kun?” She asked happily while putting on her new outfit. “I’m your bride, it was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“What’s that about a bride?” Jiraiya asked, his interest piqued.

Their next stop was in a forest clearing. Jiraiya sat on a rock while Naruto and Sakura faced each other, both of them assuming a fighting stance.

“Alright, the first lesson starts now.” The Toad Sage announced. “Sakura, I want you to try and punch Naruto as hard as you can.”

“B-But Ero-Sennin, her punches as, like, super strong!” Naruto protested. “She can break boulders, you know?”

“Yes, I know. Which is why you have to dodge them like your life depends on it.”

“Yeah, it’s not like my life _will_ depend on it or anything.” He fired back, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Don’t worry, Naruto-kun, I’ll go easy on you.” Sakura assured him, the wicked smile Naruto became familiar with slowly spreading across her face. “I will only punch you hard enough to break a few bones. We can’t get married if you’re dead, now can we?”

“Enough chit-chat.” Jiraiya said. “Start!”

Naruto screamed in terror before rolling on the ground as Sakura threw a punch. He managed to dodge, but the tree behind him wasn’t as lucky, its trunk exploding into splinters. Jiraiya laughed as he watch Naruto run in circles around the clearing, doing his best to avoid Sakura’s assault.

“Spending the next three years with these two won’t be such a chore after all.”

**Author's Note:**

> A quick side project I threw together while I work on other stuff so my AO3 account won't become stagnant. Feel free to check the other stories I published!
> 
> Also I'm going to try and add drawings to my stories from now on. Just one or two though, don't want to exaggerate.
> 
> And yes, Fuki is a canon character, she is one of the lackeys that would follow Ami around when Sakura and Ino were kids. People usually add OCs or Ami herself when it comes to these types of stories, but I think Fuki's design is much better; she has this "wild child" vibe going for her.  
> The accent was just for fun, though.


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